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Topic: Stroud Valley Redoubling "Being Considered" (Read 5596 times)
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Lee
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Network Rail says the scheme is currently in the first stage of the GRIP (the eight-stage Guide to Railway Investment Projects) and a feasibility study is being carried out. If the results are positive , work could start as early as 2008/09. (link below.) http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/articles/rail/551.shtmlBefore we get too excited , Wolmar also raises some other points including : "There are, of course, a whole host of difficulties ahead. No costing is available so far and the work may prove to be more difficult than expected. When the track was singled, it was moved to the middle because of concerns about weak embankments, and both moving the track and shoring up the embankments will add to the costs. When Chiltern and Railtrack redoubled just nine miles of plain line track between Bicester and Aynho junctions three years ago, the bill was a staggering £60m.Therefore, it would not take much for a relatively modest scheme like Swindon to Kemble to reach three figures quite easily." "Then there is the issue of compensation, the craziest aspect of the current fragmented structure of the railways. NR has to pay compensation for disruption to operators when it is carrying out work to make their services run more efficiently. How mad is that? Yet, by then, First Great Western is likely to be struggling with its onerous franchise, making the company desperate to wrest any revenue it can from NR." "And even when the line does get redoubled, Great Western is likely to want to see a reduction in its premium payments for running any extra trains that would be allowed by this enhanced capacity as they may not pay for themselves." However , extra freight trains may well pay for themselves on the Stroud Valley line , which is projected to acheive high - level tonnage growth to 2015. |
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Graham Ellis
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I was also hearing comment just the other day from someone who had been speaking with GOSW, and alledged that they are actively discouraging such track programs, on the grounds that extra track would mean that people would campaign harder for extra trains which they would have to fund. The particular comment related to loops on Salisbury - Exetr. Please tell me that I deramed the conversation, someone ....
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Lee
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Upcoming PWQ's
Mr David Drew (Stroud): To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with First Great Western on the time tabling of services on the Cheltenham-Swindon-Paddington line.
Mr David Drew (Stroud): To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to discuss the re-doubling of the line between Kemble and Swindon with (a) Network Rail, (b) First Great Western and (c) Gloucestershire County Council.
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Lee
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Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with First Great Western on the time tabling of services on the Cheltenham-Swindon-Paddington line.
Mr. Tom Harris: I have had no discussions with First Great Western on the timetabling of services on the Cheltenham-Swindon-Paddington line. Detailed timetabling of services is a matter is for the First Great Western.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to discuss the re-doubling of the line between Kemble and Swindon with (a) Network Rail, (b) First Great Western and (c) Gloucestershire county council.
Mr. Tom Harris: I have no immediate plans to meet Network Rail, or other stakeholders, over plans to re-double the railway line between Swindon and Kemble. This is a matter for Network Rail to pursue. The company has recently confirmed a proposal to improve this line and is currently consulting with the railway industry on the matter.
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Lee
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Following a meeting of its investment board, Network Rail has decided not to invest in the plans until more research is done (link below.) http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=231771&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231774&contentPK=19589068&folderPk=108867&pNodeId=231888The announcement has sparked fears that the project will be scrapped altogether. Cotswolds MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said the decision was a "betrayal". "Network Rail has been stringing commuters along for months believing they might see an improvement to their service through the dualling of the track," he said. "Their hopes have now been dashed." First Great Western spokesman Chris Mitchell said: "We're still investigating how to bring the project into fruition. It hasn't been shelved, we just haven't ironed out some of the stumbling blocks." Prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Cheltenham Mark Coote said he was disappointed. "We're crying out for rail infrastructure in this part of the country. It's dire," he said. "We could now be looking at a decade of complete inaction for a piece of the line which would make a huge difference to reliability and quality of travel." A Network Rail spokesman said the costs of the scheme were under review. |
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Industry Insider
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Will we hear a similar story to the similar situation on the Cotswold Line between Worcester and Oxford? An announcement on full/partial re-doubling on the line is expected in February...  |
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Graham Ellis
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Following a meeting of its investment board, Network Rail has decided not to invest in the plans until more research is done ....
The road to improvements is paved with false hopes ... which doesn't mean that it won't get done eventually. The number of setbacks that we've had in the TransWilts campaign has to be seen to be believed, and at least one of them are said to be at the hands of Network Rail - but still we plug on and remain hopeful. "I've done a lot of campaigning in my time, but railway campaiging is tough by comparison it take 10 times the time for a tenth of the results" ... not my words (for I an NOT from any form of campaginig background - this is my first), but the words of a much more seasoned person for whom I have learnt a great respect. |
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Lee
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I hope Graham wont mind if I strike a slightly less optimistic note. From what we know of the reasons behind Network Rail's decision to put the scheme on hold, they seem to tally with Christian Wolmar's prediction of October 2006 : Network Rail says the scheme is currently in the first stage of the GRIP (the eight-stage Guide to Railway Investment Projects) and a feasibility study is being carried out. If the results are positive , work could start as early as 2008/09. (link below.) http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/articles/rail/551.shtmlBefore we get too excited , Wolmar also raises some other points including : "There are, of course, a whole host of difficulties ahead. No costing is available so far and the work may prove to be more difficult than expected. When the track was singled, it was moved to the middle because of concerns about weak embankments, and both moving the track and shoring up the embankments will add to the costs. When Chiltern and Railtrack redoubled just nine miles of plain line track between Bicester and Aynho junctions three years ago, the bill was a staggering £60m.Therefore, it would not take much for a relatively modest scheme like Swindon to Kemble to reach three figures quite easily." Note also a further quote from the CW article : There are dozens of worthwhile schemes with strong business cases that only require the will and a bit of cash. For example, I was recently sent the proposal to reopen Kenilworth station between Coventry and Leamington Spa which would provide three times the amount of benefits compared with its £4m cost. Network Rail’s ability to bring these schemes to fruition is an important test of whether the current structure is a viable way to run the railway. In the grand scheme of things, we are talking about redoubling a 14-mile stretch of line, which is a key diversionary route and requires no extra platforms to be built. If Network Rail cant pull this one off, then how likely is it that they could manage a more complex scheme such as (say) redoubling the Cotswold line? |
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Lee
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Stroud's MP David Drew is calling on the Government to make the upgrading of the line from Kemble to Swindon a priority. He says the nine-mile stretch needs to become a double-track line to boost the frequency of trains between Gloucestershire and London (link below.) http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=231771&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231774&contentPK=20504234&folderPk=108867&pNodeId=231888Now he is poised to ask a Parliamentary Question asking the Government to make the upgrade a priority. "I have been lobbying this for 10 years," he said. He is concerned that upgrading the North Cotswold Line to double track could be made a priority before the Kemble-Swindon stretch. He is calling on the ORR to back his campaign and has submitted a parliamentary question asking why the North Cotswold line could be due for an earlier upgrade. "The North Cotswolds line is longer line to be redoubled and is less well used than the Kemble-Swindon stretch," A spokesman for Network Rail said it was keen to upgrade the line, and would seek additional funding. |
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Lee
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Transport minister Tom Harris is backing the Stroud Valley re-doubling plans (link below.) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/7482746.stm"I will commit my own officials to working with the industry to make the case very strongly to the ORR that the re-doubling of this lane (article probably meant to say "line") should in fact go ahead." |
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« Last Edit: July 01, 2008, 01:05:44 PM by Lee »
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